Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572

www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

A built-in bearing sensor to measure the shaft motion of a small

rotary compressor for air conditioning
H.-J. Ahn a,∗, D.-C. Han b, I.-S. Hwang c
a
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, 122 Engineer’s way, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4746, USA
b
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, San 56-1, Shinlim-dong, Kwanak-Ku, Seoul, 151-742
South Korea
c
Carrier Ltd, 981-11 Jangduk-Dong, Gwangsan-Ku, Gwangju, 506-730 South Korea

Received 1 June 2002; received in revised form 9 October 2002; accepted 1 November 2002

Abstract

It is very difficult to measure the shaft motion of a small rotary compressor because of mounting space availability, exposure
to high temperature and high pressure as well as electromagnetic noise from the motor. This paper details the development of a
built-in bearing sensor to measure the shaft motion of a rolling piston type compressor for an air conditioner. The bearing sensor
is calibrated indirectly through measuring the oil relative permittivity. The shaft motions in both transient and steady state conditions
are measured successfully using this built in bearing sensor.
 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Built-in bearing sensor; Rotary compressor; Cylindrical capacitive sensor

1. Introduction through a suction port. The gas is compressed as the

In these days, the rapid increase in the number of
refrigeration and air conditioning systems in modern
industries brings urgent attention to core technology
development in this area. The compressor is an
important component that determines the entire perform-
ance of the refrigeration and air conditioning system.
The rotary compressor is widely used in air conditioning
systems for several reasons: continuous and smooth
operation, less power consumption as a result of higher
efficiency, fewer moving parts leading to greater
reliability, lighter weight, more compact size, and quieter
operation. However, the usage of alternative refrigerants
with lower viscosity and lubricating properties can
impact a rotary compressor’s availability [1].
Rolling piston type rotary compressors operate on the
eccentric shaft that rotates within cylinder, shown in Fig.
1 . Gas enters a space between the shaft and the cylinder
∗
Corresponding author. Tel: 434-924-4547; fax: 434-982-2246.
E-mail address: hja4n@virginia.edu (H.-J. Ahn).
shaft revolves due to the eccentricity of the vane
assembly. A discharge port on the opposite side releases
the compressed air. High asymmetric forces due to both
the magnetic pull force by the induction motor and high
reaction force from the compressed gas are applied to the
shaft. The shaft is supported by hydrodynamic journal
bearings, which are lubricated using a mixture of the
refrigerant and oil. There were some lubrication prob-
lems: low viscosity due to the usage of alternative
refrigerants [2] and oil starvation due to heat pump
application in the winter. Therefore, the accurate
measurement of the shaft motion in the journal bearing
becomes important since this gives valuable information
in designing journal bearings for the rotary compressor.
It is very difficult to measure the shaft motion of a
small rotary compressor because of mounting space
availability, exposure to high temperature and high
pressure as well as electromagnetic noise from the
motor. There are no publications regarding the direct
measurement of the shaft motion in the journal bearing
of a rotary compressor, although there has been a
research on the electrical observation of metallic contact
between lubrication surfaces [2,3].

0301-679X/03/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0301-679X(02)00244-X
562 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572

Nomenclature
X, Y Displacement of shaft
C Capacitance
gain Sensor gain
Permittivity

Fig. 1. Schematic of compressor.

Capacitive sensors are widely used in short-range
ultra-precision and control applications because they
have higher resolution than other types of sensors [4].
In particular, the cylindrical capacitive sensor (CCS) was
originally introduced by Chapman [5]. It has several
advantages including low sensitivity to geometric errors
by the averaging effect, and high resolution with a large
sensing area. Ahn et al. [6] analyzed the mechanical
errors of CCS mathematically, and demonstrated through
simulations and experiments that a CCS is superior to
the probe type sensor in rejecting the geometric errors
of a rotor.
This paper details the development of a built-in bear-
ing sensor to measure the shaft motion of a rolling piston
type compressor for an air conditioner. The built-in bear-
ing sensor is calibrated indirectly through measuring the
oil relative permittivity. The shaft motion is measured
at various operating conditions. In addition,
suction/discharge pressures are measured with pressure
sensors at the same time. The experimental results show
that the developed built-in bearing sensor can measure
steady state but also in transient state shaft motion.
2. Built-in bearing sensor
2.1. Cylindrical capacitive sensor
As the ratio of the area of the sensor to the distance
from the target is increased, the accuracy and resolution
of the sensor also increase. In addition, the ratio of
sensor area to the characteristic surface finish dimension
of the part should be as great as possible to provide the
averaging effect [4]. Therefore, the 4-segment CCS is
designed to possess the largest sensing area and to use
a differential configuration for stability to environmental
changes, as shown in Fig. 2 (a). The shaft displacements
 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572
Fig. 2. Cylindrical capacitive sensor: (a) Configuration; (b) Elements.
X, Y can be approximated with Eq. (1) using the
capacities of four sensing electrodes (C1, C2, C3, C4).
The existing 4-segment CCS is composed of four
sensing electrodes, a guarding electrode, and an epoxy
resin for insulation, as shown in Fig. 2 (b)
X gain(C1 C4 C2 C3),Y gain(C1 C2
C3 C4)
2.2. Design of built-in bearing sensor
Although there are many applications of rotary com-
pressors for air conditioning systems, especially small
rotary compressors have durability problems with the
reduced load capacity of small bearing due to the alter-
native refrigerants. In addition, measuring the displace-
ment of a small compressor is much harder than a large
compressor, since the small compressor means limited
563
space to install a sensor. We select a small compressor
with R410A refrigerant whose specifications are 21
KBtu/hr, 1 Ph, 60 Hz (220 V) and 15.5 kg.
There are several considerations in the design of built-
in bearing sensor to measure the shaft motion of small
rotary compressor for air conditioning. The design is
based on the CCS, which is robust to electro-magnetic
noise and has high resolution even with a small sens-
ing area.
First, the CCS is located in the region of shaft under-
cut in order to certify the linearity of CCS and to avoid
the deformation of the CCS due to the bearing load. The
average clearance of the journal bearing is 24 µm (from
31 to 17 µm) and the orbit radius is less than 12 µm.
Since the CCS can guarantee the linearity of sensor
within one third of the radial clearance, at least 36 µm
of radial clearance is required at the location of the CCS.
The shaft undercut at the middle of the main bearing
provides an oil reservoir for lubrication. The CCS, jig
and bearing are designed to locate the CCS at the
location of the undercut.
Second, the radial dimension of the CCS is designed
to account for molding process and wiring. The radial
thickness of the sensor should be sufficient to endure the
cutting force and to minimize the deformation in post-
processing. The radial groove is designed in the outer
diameter of the sensor to increase the contact area with
the adhesive. In addition, a radial clearance between the
sensor and guard is necessary for wiring.
Third, the arc length and angular location of the sensor
segments are determined considering the oil groove of
bearing. The CCS is designed so that the oil groove
should be located at the circumferential gap between
sensor segments in order not to injure the sensor seg-
ment.
Finally, the some additional shapes of the CCS and
the jig should be necessary for the concentric assembly
and the electrical insulation among parts after machin-
ing. The CCS and the jig should be designed to guaran-
tee the concentricity of the CCS and the bearing in
assembling parts. In addition, the CCS, jig and bearing
should be designed so that each part should be split and
insulated electrically after machining.
(1)
2.3. Manufacture of built-in bearing sensor
2.3.1. Roughing of sensor, guard and jig
The sensor, guard and a jig used for construction are
shown in Fig. 3. The height and inner diameter of the
main bearing are 47.30 mm and 19.097 mm, respect-
ively. The jig material is the same as the bearing, which
is powder metal alloy (FC-0208). This is why the jig is
used as a part of bearing after machining, although the
jig is for assembling the sensor before machining. The
material of the CCS is normal brass for good electrical
and machining characteristics.
564 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572
Fig. 3. Bearing sensor, guard and jig: (a) Elements; (b) Assembling.
2.3.2. Wiring
The triaxial cable for the CCS is made of twisted four
Teflon sensor wires, guard wire, and shield wire. The
guard wire is a copper mesh to protect the sensor wires
from stray capacitances. The shield wire is also a copper
mesh to reduce the effects of electric noise. The triaxial
cable is welded to sensor and guard as shown in Fig. 4.
2.3.3. Assembling and molding
The triaxial cable is welded to the CCS. Then, the
CCS and jig are molded into the bearing. Fig. 5 shows
the built-in sensor assembly of bearing without molding.
The CCS is molded into bearing with one-part, heat
curing structural adhesive 3M 2214 that provides high-
strength bond in high temperature [7]. The character-
istics of 3M 2214 are shown in Table 1.
2.3.4. Finishing
The built-in bearing sensor is finished after the epoxy
adhesive is cured at high temperature. The roughness of
bearing surface is Ra 0.3 µm, which is the same as that
Fig. 4. Wiring of the CCS. (a) Sensor and guard wiring; (b)
assembly.
of the shaft. A completed built-in bearing sensor is
shown in Fig. 6. While the sensor, guard and epoxy can
be easily found in the cross section of built-in bearing
sensor, the jig cannot be distinguished from bearing
because the radial clearance between bearing and jig is
very small and the material of jig is same as the bearing.
Although the wide circumferential gap between the
sensor segments lower resolution of the CCS, these gaps
should be so wide that the oil groove can pass through
without injuring the sensor segments.
3. Amplifier for built-in bearing sensor
The charge transfer principle is used as a capacitance
detecting circuit to avoid interference between the sensor
electrodes and to achieve the wide bandwidth [8]. A
voltage proportional to an unknown capacitance can be
obtained through performing the charge/discharge of
unknown capacitance and the integration of the dis-
charged pulse current. The sensor circuit board and
sensor amplifier box are shown in Fig. 7.
4. Calibration of built-in bearing sensor
In general, the displacement sensor is calibrated using
an X-Y table of high resolution. However, an X-Y table
 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572 565

Fig. 6. Built-in bearing sensor after finishing: (a) Bearing; (b) Cross-
section.
Fig. 5. Assembled CCS and bearing without adhesive. (a) The
assembly of the CCS. (b) The assembly of CCS and jig.

Table 1
Epoxy adhesive 2214

Recommended heat curing condition Tensile strength Shear strength (kg/cm2 at temp)

Time Temp Pressure 55°C 24°C 82°C 121°C

60 min 121°C 0.7 kg/cm2 22.25 (kg/25 mm) 210 315 315 119

of sub-micron resolution and accurate adjustment of the
squareness are required in this case. Therefore, it is very
difficult to apply general calibration scheme for a dis-
placement sensor to this built-in bearing sensor.
If the dimensions of the CCS and shaft are exactly
known, the simulated and experimental gains of the CCS
agree well. Therefore, if the relative permittivity of oil
is not changed significantly with the variations of tem-
perature, indirect calibration can be done by measuring
the relative permittivity of the oil. The oil lubricant is
PVE 68 and its viscosities are 64.2 mm2/s at 104°F and
7.67 mm2/s at 212°F, respectively.
The relative permittivity of oil can be calculated
experimentally through the procedure shown in Fig. 8,
and Eq. (2). The capacitances of the CCS in four cases
are measured: with rotor in the air, without rotor in the
air, with rotor in the oil and without rotor in the oil.
Substituting the measured capacitances into Eq. (2), the
relative permittivity of the oil can be obtained and the
resulting relative permittivity is about 1.6.
566 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572

4 4

Cn|oilrotor Cn|oilr
n 1 n 1
eoil 4 4
. (2)
Cn|airrotor Cn|airr
n 1 n 1

The gain of the CCS is estimated within the range of

±10 µm using the calculated relative permittivity of the
oil and dimensional data of the built-in bearing sensor
and the shaft. The relationships between the outputs of
the CCS and displacement are shown in Fig. 9 and the
gain of the CCS is about 0.64 V/µm. The CCS has a
good linearity in the entire range.

5. Experiments

5.1. Experiment setup

Experiments for measuring the shaft motion in both

Fig. 7. Sensor amplifier for detecting capacitance: (a) Circuit board;
(b) Amplifier box.
transient and steady states were performed to validate
the effectiveness of built-in bearing sensor. The average
suction/discharge pressure and temperature are con-
trolled and monitored by the reliability tester. Two
dynamic pressure sensors for suction/discharge pressures
and the built-in bearing sensor for shaft motion are
equipped in the bolt shell. The sensors are linked outside
the bolt shell through pressure resistive connector. Data
measured with sensors are recorded with a digital
oscilloscope. The schematic of experimental setup to
measure the shaft motion and the suction/discharge
pressure is shown in Fig. 10. Photos of the experimental
setup and bolt shell, equipped with the built-in bearing
sensor, are shown in Fig. 11
Since the pressure in the bolt shell is much higher
than atmosphere and the proposed sensor needs the triax-
ial cable, a pressure resistive connector is developed to
link the triaxial cable of the CCS outside the bolt shell
without leakage. The schematic of the pressure resistive
sensor is shown in Fig. 12 (a) and the photo of assembly
in bolt shell in Fig. 12 (b).

5.2. Measurement of transient response

5.2.1. The condition of repeated start/stop

Experimental data under the repeated start/stop (3 min
on and 3 min off) during 30 min are shown in Fig. 13.
The transient responses of shaft and pressures during on-
off states can be detected in this condition. In the time
plot of the pressures, the upper line above zero is dis-
charge pressure and the lower line is the suction press-
ure. Since the suction pressure is much smaller than the
Fig. 8. Experiment procedures of measuring relative permittivity of discharge pressure, we amplify the suction pressure in
oil. 10 times. The shape of pressure in each start is not the
 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572 567

Fig. 9. Estimated gain of built-in bearing sensor. (a) The output of the CCS in X direction. (b) The output of the CCS in Y direction.

Fig. 10. Schematic of experimental setup.

same, which indicates that the pressure has not stabil-
ized yet.
The transient response during a repeated start/stop is
highlighted in Fig. 14. The shaft responds sensitively to
the variation of the pressures. There is a high frequency
noise in the displacement signal, which means that there
is contact between the shaft and bearing caused by the
imperfect construction of oil film in the start-up time.
The upper part above zero shows discharge pressure and
the lower part indicates the 10 times amplified suction
pressure in the pressure time plot.
5.3. Measurement of steady state response
The shaft orbit and suction/discharge pressures are
measured in two steady states of maximum differential
568 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572

Fig. 11. Photos of experimental setup. (a) Bolt shell; (b) Experimental setup.

Table 2 of two steady states are shown in Table 2. The superheat

Two steady-state conditions
means that the refrigerant extracts the heat in passing
from the accumulator to the compressor. For example,
Suction Discharge Suction
temperature (°F) temperature (°F) superheat the temperature of refrigerant from the accumulator is
temperature (°F) 30°F and that of the compressor is 40°F.

Maximum 30 155 40
differential 5.3.1. Maximum differential pressure
pressure
Maximum 15 100 5
The shaft orbits are measured several times in the
pressure ratio maximum differential pressure condition and are shown
in Fig. 15(a). The time responses of shaft and pressures
are shown in Fig. 15(b). The upper part above zero
pressure and maximum pressure ratio. Two conditions shows discharge pressure and the lower part indicates
are much milder than the maximum load condition (1105 the 10 times amplified suction pressure in the pressure
N in main bearing from a simulation). Two steady states time plot. The discharge pressure from 0.06 to 1.4 s has
conditions are defined as suction, discharge and suction distinct two peaks during one cycle due to the twice
superheat temperatures and the temperature conditions opening of the discharge valve and the shaft seems to
 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572 569

respond to these discharge pressure variations directly.

Fig. 15(c) shows the power spectrum of shaft displace-
ments and suction/discharge pressures. The displace-
ments of the shaft respond exactly to the discharge press-
ure as shown in Fig. 15(c). The multiple harmonic
components of the discharge pressure means the sharp
variation of discharge pressure in very short time like
an impulse load. The moderate component below main
frequency (60 Hz) in Fig. 15(c) represents the slow pre-
cession of the shaft in Fig. 15(a) and this comes from
the induction motor control.

5.3.2. Maximum pressure ratio

The shaft orbits are measured for the maximum press-
ure ratio condition and are shown in Fig. 16(a). The time
responses of shaft and pressures are shown in Fig. 16(b).
Fig. 16(c) shows the power spectrum of shaft displace-
ments and suction/discharge pressures. It is more clearly
shown that the displacement of the shaft respond exactly
to the discharge pressure variation. That is because the
low suction temperature makes the high discharge press-
ure. Multiple harmonic components of the discharge
pressure can be seen more clearly. Although magnitudes
of multiple harmonic components are small, the odd har-
monic components of the displacements shows slightly
Fig. 12. Pressure resistive connector. (a) Schematics; (b) Photo.

Fig. 13. Transient response of repeated start/stop during 30 min.

570 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572

Fig. 14. Transient response during one start/stop. (a) Orbit changes; (b) Time signal.

bigger responses than even harmonic components. This 6. Conclusion

shows the characteristics of the 4-segment CCS, which is
sensitive to odd harmonic errors [6]. That is, the bigger
responses of the odd harmonic terms are related to not
the system characteristics but the geometric errors of
the shaft.
In order to measure the shaft motion in the journal
bearing of a small rotary compressor, a CCS was inte-
grated in the journal bearing. The built-in bearing sensor
is calibrated indirectly through measuring the oil relative
 H.-J. Ahn et al. / Tribology International 36 (2003) 561–572 571

Fig. 15. Steady state responses in maximum differential pressure Fig. 16. Steady state responses in maximum pressure ratio condition.
condition. (a) Shaft orbit; (b) Time signal; (c) Power spectrum. (a) Shaft orbit; (b) Time signal; (c) Power spectrum.

permittivity experimentally. The shaft motion as well as can measure the shaft motion very well not only in ste-
suction and discharge pressures were measured in both ady state but also in transient state. The developed built-
transient and steady state conditions. The experimental in bearing sensor is expected to play a significant role
results show that the developed built-in bearing sensor in the design of journal bearing of the rotary compressor.